Brace for more heavy rains

July 17, 2013|By Ihosvani Rodriguez and David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel

South Florida's summer has been rained out so far, and it looks like you will need to keep that umbrella handy.

The latest forecast calls for more afternoon thunderstorms on Thursday with frequent lighting strikes and locally heavy rainfall. Showers and thunderstorms will likely continue through the weekend, with the possibility of wind gusts of up to 50 mph.

Strong rip currents will also continue into the weekend due to persistent easterly winds, the National Weather Service said late Wednesday.

The agency issued flood advisories throughout most of Wednesday and expects to issue more on Thursday.

The relentless rain upon all areas between Palm Beach and Miami-Dade this year will likely make July the fourth month in a row with above-average rainfall. The last time this happened was in 1997, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

Most of Wednesday's flooding took place in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The Broward Sheriff's Office was forced to shut down some busy roads near Prospect Road and Dixie Highway in Oakland Park, as cars stalled and weary residents and business owners scrambled to keep water away from their properties.

John Haywood, a manager at his family's ACH Stucco company at 4350 NE Sixth Ave., spent most of Wednesday standing outside his shop under the rain yelling at motorists to slow down.

"Everytime they drive by the wake goes into our office," he said. "It doesn't look like this is going to stop."

The city on Wednesday offered its residents a chance to get sandbags from its depot at 5100 NE 12th Terrace.

Mabel Cardoso, 35, had four of the sandbags stacked near the doorway of her apartment in the 4000 block of Northeast 10th Avenue. Some of the water had entered earlier in the day.

"It has to stop. This can't continue like this or we're going to stay somewhere else," she said.

The heavy flooding Wednesday was the result not only of the day's rain but of ground saturation, said Gabe Margasak, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District. Some areas of Broward County, for example, have seen up to 10 inches of rain since Saturday, he said.

"What residents are seeing today is actually the result of very wet antecedent conditions," he said.

The water district said the flood-control system is functioning as designed, and gates and pump stations are moving water out as efficiently and safely as possible.

The high waters this week have also prompted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to issue an executive order temporarily restricting public access to Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land, and Rotenberger Wildlife Management Areas.

The order was necessary because as waters rise, wildlife take refuge on tree islands and levees, resulting in high levels of stress for these animals, said FWC spokeswoman Carli Segelson.

Staff writer Adam Sacasa contributed to this report.

ijrodriguez@tribune.com; 954-356-4605 or @GeoRodriguez on Twitter and Instagram